1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an information terminal control method and an energy conservation support system for supporting energy conservation in a shop.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, emphasis has been placed on reducing consumption of energy in shops, i.e., on energy conservation, for enhancement in corporate image and improvement in profitability. In particular, corporations that operate a plurality of shops such as convenience stores and supermarkets have been recommending energy conservation in each shop, as an assiduous accumulation of energy conservation in each shop brings about a profound effect.
The following describes examples of technologies for achieving energy conservation. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2013-106380 discloses a consumption monitoring system. The system sets a given power consumption target within a contract demand. The system calculates total power consumption from the power consumed by each electrical apparatus. In a case where the total power consumption exceeds the power consumption target, the system selects, from among electrical apparatuses that are operating, an electrical apparatus that is to be de-activated. This selection is based on a preset order of priority. The system reports the selected electrical apparatus together with an excess of power consumption. The system then de-activates the selected electrical apparatus at a predetermined timing.
Further, Japanese Patent No. 3564605 discloses a demand control operational support method including a target power setter that sets a target power in advance for each weather condition for each demand control target, a seasonal prediction acquirer that acquires a seasonal prediction from a meteorological company through a network, a target power selector that selects, on the basis of the seasonal prediction thus acquired, a target power under a weather condition corresponding to each demand control target, and a target power supplier that supplies the target power thus selected to the corresponding demand control target through the network.
In the technology disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2013-106380, the excess of power consumption is reported when the total power consumption exceeds the power consumption target. For this reason, the total power consumption already exceeds the power consumption target by the time the excess of power consumption is reported. As such, the technology disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2013-106380 does not consider improving efficiency in energy conservation by reducing the possibility that the amount of power consumption may exceed the targeted amount of power.
Further, the technology disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3564605 is intended to select a target power according to seasonal weather information. As such, the technology disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3564605 cannot improve efficiency in energy conservation by reducing the possibility that the amount of power consumption may exceed the targeted amount of power.
Under such circumstances, there has been a demand for a technology for improving efficiency in energy conservation by reducing the possibility that the amount of power consumption may exceed the targeted amount of power.